P4: Fire and Ice
by Decido
Summary: Nightmares of Yukiko's shadow are plaguing Chie, causing her to suspect the midnight channel has returned. Will the gang figure out what is causing Chie so much grief, or will they be too late; allowing Chie to succumb to the shadows. (Based mostly from anime series)Pairing: Chie/Yukiko.


**Synopsis:** Nightmares of Yukiko's shadow are plaguing Chie, causing her to suspect the midnight channel has returned. Will the gang figure out what is causing Chie so much grief, or will they be too late... allowing Chie to succumb to the shadows.

**Pairing:** Chie/Yukiko

**Note:** This is my first Persona 4 fan-fiction, please be kind ;)

**Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or this universe - all is credited to ATLUS.**

**-Prologue-**

The smell of smoke and ash filled my lungs, jarring me from sleep. Hacking and rolling onto my side, I managed to support myself on my forearms; however, opening my eyes proved to be a battle of its own. The heat was too much for my eyes to take on; the best I could do was squint against the red and orange hues. Tears leaked from my eyes and mixed with perspiration due to the extreme heat. What is going on here? Did the house catch fire?

Wait... this isn't my room.

I forced my eyes to open wider, ignoring the stinging protest, and tried looking past the continuous flow of tears, only to find that the smoke was so thick it made it nearly impossible to see more than a few feat away. Immediately, I struggled to stand. I have to find a way out of here before the fire reaches me. Taking very careful steps forward – I stretched out my arm, searching for anything that would give me a clue as to where I was and a way to escape the fire. After moments of searching, scalding metal bars brushed my fingertips.

"Damn!" Shouting, I jerked my hand away and cradled it to my chest.

"Careful..." a familiar female voice chuckled, sounding almost playful.

"Yukiko?" I whispered.

An overload of information hit my senses all at once. The fire... the bars... this entire place! This has to where we saved Yukiko from her shadow! But, if that's true... then why am I the one in the bird cage? Shouldn't it be my shadow, and not Yukiko's, lurking amongst the smoke? Too many questions were racing circles in my head for me to make sense of it all. Before I could calm my fear of being back in the TV world, the fire grew wild and the smoke thicker. The entire foundation I was standing on started to swing and I was left sitting on my rump covering my mouth with my jacket sleeve. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't prevent myself from inhaling the black smoke that was surrounding me.

"I think you got... the wrong... person!" I called out to the ominous voice between fits of coughing.

"No." Yukiko's voice was no longer playful. "I have exactly who I want." She snapped.

I wanted to ask her why she brought me here. I also had a few good threats to spout out in case she dared go for Yukiko next, but my body instinctively began to gasp for oxygen. Fear, or lack of air, caused my chest to tighten. I was lost in blackness.

**~1~**

Fog is Returning

The fog comes on little cat feet.

It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on.

Carl Sandburg

White noise and my raspy breathing cut through the deafening silence. I had lurched up from my dream and was staring at the snow-static screen in front of me. Awakening from my trance, I cautiously examined my surroundings, ultimately deciding that no supernatural being could precisely imitate the mess normally labeled as my room. Once again my gaze fell on the television set. I gulped and felt a chill go down my spine. I thought all this was over...

Without even realizing it, I snatched my phone from the nightstand, struggling with the too-short charging cord still attached, and began searching for Yosuke's number within my contacts list. Fortunately, before I embarrassed myself, I noticed something crucial about my cube of a TV. It was still plugged in!

"Oh, thank God..." I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding in. The midnight channel only showed up when I had my TV unplugged.

The midnight channel was only broadcast on rainy nights. The spooky part about this rumored small-town folklore is that the it still played even when the TV wasn't plugged in! This rumor naturally spread crazy amongst the high school kids, and soon, everyone was staying up late to "see their soul-mate". Later, it became common for the person viewed in the TV to show up dead, hanging on the antenna at the home of the victim. That's how the Inaba serial murders began, as well as the adventure to find what was causing the midnight channel to show. Luckily, my friends and I interfered with what was broadcasting the midnight channel, and everything went back to normal.

Though I felt ten times better that my TV was plugged in regularly, I still needed to make sure that my dream was due to some spicy dish I had last night and not the midnight channel returning. I took another deep breath and gritted my teeth, dropping the cell phone on the blankets. "Come on Satonaka..." I mumbled with forced courage. "You are NOT a coward."

Perhaps too enthusiastically, I swung my legs out of bed and cringed at the cold air stinging my bare skin. I nervously pulled my little elastic shorts down as far as I comfortably could, mostly just to stall if for any reason at all. What if I fall in the TV again? My friends aren't here to help me out and I doubt they know the midnight channel started up again... And that cage surrounded by smoke and fire is certainly not a place I wanted to return to.

"I'm just going to barely touch it. There's no way I'll fall in." I said trying to reassure myself.

I walked over to my television set with feigned confidence. Closing my eyes and looking away, I quickly reached my hand up and tapped the screen. The hollow **ping** sounded like sweet music to my ears. I grinned, ashamed at how scared I was and how the silly nightmare had me acting clownish. Just for kicks, I ran my fingertips over the cool, smooth glass and pressed the power switch, turning off the set. Further examination showed the VCR portion of the set was still running.

"Now that I think about it..." I pondered, placing the old video cassette in its proper case. Last night I was watching my dad's old kung fu movies and fell asleep during the latter end. This has to be why I woke up to the TV still on! "I'm glad I didn't call Yosuke... He wouldn't let this one go for weeks." I spent the next few seconds dreading how things would have gone down if I called Yosuke in a panic because of a stupid dream. He would just say something idiotic like, "Why don't you lay off the peppered beef, Chie." or "The doctors always say your last meal should be three hours before you go to bed, Chie."

I placed the video cassette on top of the many others I had littered on the side of the desk that was supposed to be used for schoolwork. Stretching and yawning I considered going back to bed, but a quick one-eyed glance out the window showed a light blue haze peaking out from the horizon. I shuffled back over to the bed sluggishly pulling my phone from the tangled mass of sheets only to see a pale [6:37] glowing. I guess the only unnatural thing going on here is this new founded ability to wake up before my seven o'clock alarm. If only I had this talent during the academic year!

"Well, at least I can take my time getting ready instead of the usually mad rush." I said while yawning and doing my routine stretching.

Still groggy, I shuffled around the room, gathering the things I would need to get ready for the day. The task was unnecessarily difficult due to the lack of light, but I felt it was worth avoiding the headache of turning on the bright top light. I headed for the shower, eager to clean the now dried sweat from my body; all the while, keeping notice of the time, ensuring I wouldn't be late for "Operation Welcome Back" or whatever silly name Yosuke gave our meeting for today.

Before I knew it, I was already at the Junes bus stop. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I exited the bus and headed for the food court. I couldn't help but feel paranoid that my short hair was disheveled from my sleeping on the bus and continuously ran my fingers through it, attempting to brush any possible defects. Once at the food court, I instantly spotted Kanji's bleached hair and bad attitude as well as Naoto's dark blue detective hat and blue tie. Maybe I should start wearing a hat... then I could sleep on the bus all I want without being paranoid about my hair.

"Chie-sempai! Over here!" Kanji called out.

"Hey guys!" I laughed at his enthusiasm. He's so big and tough on the outside, but a plushie loving softy secretly. I sat on the bench, giving them both a big grin.

"Good morning, Chie-sempai." The prodigy child detective said in her smooth voice that I sometimes envy. "You're here earlier than I expected."

"Hey! Just because I'm a little late sometimes-"

"You mean you oversleep sometimes." Kanji cut in. Naoto couldn't help her laughter.

"That's besides the point!" I yelled playfully. "Just because I sleep in sometimes," I cut a glare at Kanji who smiled sheepishly, "doesn't mean you should automatically assume I will be late for everything. And besides, I wouldn't miss this meeting for the world!"

They both continued to stare at me as if expecting a real answer. I resisted the urge to run my fingers through my hair.

I sighed, "Ok. So I startled myself awake and couldn't go back to sleep. But I'm hear on time and that's all that should matter!" This caused another eruption of laughter. I couldn't help but smile with them. This is exactly what I need after such a horrible awakening.

"So, where is everyone else?" I asked, looking around for the rest of the crew.

"Yosuke-sempai and Teddie are workin' right now; I saw them settin' up some displays earlier. They were both complainin' about a last minute school supply sale." Kanji answered. Now that he mentioned it, there were tons of sale signs with blown up pictures of ridiculously expensive notebook brands posted excessively on the walls of the Junes food court.

"Aw, so will Yosuke make it to the meeting? He was the one who planned the whole thing after all." I said, a little disappointed at the thought of somebody being left out.

"His break is coming up shortly." Naoto pipped in. "He went in much earlier than usual so he could leave work in time for the festivities tonight."

As if on queue, a shrill voice said "Come o-n Yo—suke! We're gonna be la—te."

"Alright, alright! I'm coming!" Yosuke's said, clearly aggravated at the smaller boy's eagerness, "Let go of my hand already! Before people get the wrong idea!" he said this next part in a hushed whisper, making me giggle.

"Yosuke! Ted!" I waved my hand and called them over, partially to let them know where we have decided to set up shop, but mostly to bring attention to them both. It would be hilarious if people did get the "wrong idea", and my morning would brighten up tremendously.

Teddy was no longer wearing his bear suit but now a matching apron everyone was so used to seeing Yosuke wearing. Maybe he got promoted from mascot to stock boy? That bear's got a future going for him! He was looking as energetic as ever unlike Yosuke's baggy eyed agitated city-boy attitude. "Aw, cheer up Yosuke." I jibed once he approached the table. "Teddie's done a fantastic job of getting you to the meeting on time!"

All I received was a half effort glare. Teddie on the other hand was giving me a starry gaze, "You really think so Chie-chan?" He clasped his hands looking hopeful.

And hopefully pathetic he shall remain. "S-Sure. But stop looking at me like that; you're really giving me the creeps and it's just too early in the morning for that!" Teddy seemed to deflate at my comment. He sat down across from Kanji, pouting and mumbling about how mean everybody is to him. I ignored him.

"So, we're just waiting on Rise and Yukiko right?" Yosuke said, seeming to perform a mental headcount on us all.

"We're here! We're here!" Rise caught all of our attention. The pop-star on hiatus was jogging with Yukiko shortly behind, both carrying large boxes. "Sorry we're late. Yukiko was thoughtful enough to bring breakfast pastries for us all. I decided to help!"

"S-Sorry everyone!" Yukiko smiled sheepishly, adjusting her red dress after setting the box she was carrying down onto the table.

I shifted in my seat nervously. I remembered how the shadow Yukiko in my dream snapped at me and how she seemed to enjoy my panic. "Hey! Thanks for bringing us breakfast!" I forced the thought to the back of my mind. Now is not the time.

Everyone was now seated and ogling the pastries that Yukiko assured us she didn't make herself. Guiltily, I was relieved that Kanji, Naoto, and I were already taking up one side of the table. This stupid nightmare really has me on edge today, and it's not fair for me to be treating Yukiko like this!

"Alright," Yosuke interrupted the idle chatter, "it's time to commence Operation Welcome Back!" Everybody silenced their conversations and waited in anticipation. "Everyone knows that today is the day that our sempai, Yuu, is returning to spend his senior year here in Inaba. Naoto-kun, what is our schedule looking like?" Yosuke, over dramatic as ever, pointed some rolled up paper (which I assume to be display plans) at Naoto.

"R-Right." She seemed startled at the abrupt question. Naoto quickly recovered and cleared her throat, "Yuu-sempai will be arriving at six o'clock tonight. Dojima has already given us the green light to go over to his house and set up for tonight's activities. Nanako-chan will be there to let us in if he isn't home." Naoto shifted her hat, clearly satisfied that she could provide Yosuke the information he so blatantly requested. "That leaves us roughly a little less than eight hours if we want to have everything accomplished an hour before Dojima-san and Yuu-sempai arrive."

"Ok, you guys heard her. We've got some time, but lets not cut it down to the wire." Yosuke commented.

"Well," Yukiko softly added, "I think eight hours is plenty of time for us to accomplish what we need before the deadline." I silently agreed. So why did we have to be here so early?

"Precisely! But, just to ensure there's no confusion, I have set tasks for each of you to focus on." Yosuke replied.

"Talk about being a dictator," Teddy commented, but Yosuke completely ignored him, pulling a crinkled, folded paper from his apron.

"Naoto and Kanji will be over food preparation, since we've learned our lessons with having the other girls cook," Yukiko, Rise, and I instantly protested and began to defend our dishes, but Yosuke simply just raised his voice and pressed forward with his delegations, " Rise and Teddie will be in control of tonight's entertainment.

"Yay!" Teddy cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "This party is gonna be a b-l-a-s-t!"

"Yeah! We got it Teddy!" Rise cheered with him.

Yosuke nodded his head, as if mentally patting himself on the back for making the right choice. The dork. "Right! Now last is Yukiko and Chie. You guys are going to be in charge of the party supplies. Yukiko is smart enough to make sure we have everything we need and Chie, you'll just be the muscle for hauling it to the Dojima residence."

"What do you mean I'm just the muscle!" I yelled at him. Once again, he ignored, us bragging about how he put a lot of thought into who he should select for each job.

"He's getting really good at ignoring us," Yukiko mumbled. I just humphed sat back in my chair, glaring daggers. "It's ok Chie. I'm happy we get to work together" She smiled.

I smiled back, almost feeling at ease. "Yeah, me too."

"So what exactly are you doin' oh fearless leader?" Kanji challenged.

"W-well, I'm the manager of the operation!" Yosuke's reply was pathetic. I guess he was thinking we were all stupid enough to not notice he didn't set himself up with a "task".

"Manager my ass," Kanji said and shrugged, "but whatever."

"Everybody has their orders, but one more thing." Yosuke recovered and handed us all gift cards for Junes. "My dad gave these to me as thanks for busting my butt this morning. Use these to purchase what you need, like food, supplies, games, music, or whatever."

"Hey wait!" Teddy called out, sounding jaded. "Aren't some of those mine? I worked hard too ya know!"

"Yeah, but come on Ted. Don't you want to throw a fantastic party for sempai?" Yosuke persuaded.

"W-well yeah! Of course I do!" Poor Teddy. He's such a trooper.

"Then it's settled. Good luck everyone. Let's meet at the Dojima residence at three o'clock. This will give us plenty of time to set up." Yosuke clapped his hands, concluding the meeting. "Well, let's get back to work Teddy and knock those displays out."

"Aw, alright." Teddy said, clearly not eager to go back. "Let's meet up after I get off, ok Rise-chan?

"Sure thing, Teddy. Just give me a call." Rise replied.

Everybody went their separate ways with their designated partner; Kanji blushing as usual for being paired with Naoto, and Rise getting a head start until Teddy could leave work. All who were left were me and Yukiko, who was humming and cleaning the mess we all left behind on the table. My heart sped up and I berated myself once more for letting that dumb dream effect me like this. Yukiko has faced her fears and there is no way a shadow of her still remains inside the TV world. I vowed to never again fall asleep watching kung fu movies so long as it keeps me from having nightmares like the one last night. It just shouldn't be effecting me like this...

"Chie." Yukiko startled me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, what's up?" I tried to be nonchalant, but I don't think it worked.

Yukiko straightened her dress after she placed the last box in the trash and looked at me with concern. "Are you alright? You look really tired. We can shop later if you want."

"No, it's alright!" I wanted to reassure her so bad; she looked so concerned. "I just had a bad dream and it woke me up super early this morning. No biggie!" I gave her a big grin, but it didn't seem to work.

We walked into the Junes department store and stayed in silence for a while. I contemplated telling her about the dream, but decided that it would just worry her even more. She would instantly think that it was her fault somehow. I shook my head, trying not to dwell on something that didn't even deserve the time of day. I don't want to be bothered by this anymore... it's starting to give me a headache.

"Isn't it great that Yuu is returning to Inaba?" Yukiko broke the silence.

My anticipation of Yuu coming back to spend his senior year, here with all of us, returned. "Heck yeah! I'm totally stoked that the gang will be complete again!"

"Hopefully this time we wont have anything weighing us down, and we can all graduate in peace." She said smiling to herself.

"Y-yeah.." I mumbled, unable to look at her.

"Hey Chie, you know you can tell me if something is bothering you right? Don't just keep to yourself all the time." Yukiko said as she compared two different brands of paper plates. I noticed how she didn't ask what my dream was about; she's so considerate and I'm thankful for that.

"I bet I only had a nightmare because school is starting soon. I actually need to perform well this year if I plan on going to university... or having any job other than fry-cook for that matter..." I mumbled that last part.

"Well, promise me you'll let me know if things get too tough, ok? Promise me you'll let me help." At this, she looked me straight in the eye, so I would know how serious she was.

"You'll be the first to know." I smiled, and grabbed the sturdier looking paper plates and tossed them in our basket.

**~1~**

**A/N:** Hope you all enjoyed. Please leave a comment!


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